


Emma

by maryastors



Category: White Christmas (1954)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26984131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maryastors/pseuds/maryastors
Summary: It was always Emma. Emma in autumn, Emma sitting under the apple tree, Emma humming to herself as she set the table. One day General Waverly realized that he really couldn’t live without her, couldn’t even stomach the thought.
Relationships: Tom Waverly/Emma Allen
Kudos: 13





	Emma

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short drabble, I hope to expand on these two much more in the future!

She’d been by his side a long time. That voice in his ear, warning him gently when he’d gone too far, or equipped with a sarcastic comment when he really deserved it. Every once in awhile it occurred to Tom Waverly that he really had uprooted before life. He could still see the disdain in her eyes when she’d first set eyes on their little slice of Vermont heaven, how she’d tripped on a snowbank going back up the lane and fallen against him in her plush warm coat. Now she was the very heart and soul of the inn, barely taking a moment for herself as she ran from switchboard to cabin to kitchen and back again. 

But that was just Emma. It was who she’d always been. Her ability to take charge, to put others before herself, those were the qualities that had always drawn him to her. She’d stepped in to take care of Susan without a second thought during the war, and now the two were closer than any mother and daughter he’d ever seen. It was often Susan who heaped the praises on her that she so deserved, the words that often escaped him in the moment, when times were good or times were bad and Emma managed to keep them all fed and dressed and on their toes. 

And now that times were certainly good, the inn booked to full capacity six months out, he’d asked for Susan’s help in picking out the ring in his pocket. Nothing terribly fancy, Emma wouldn’t like that, but a diamond and a sapphire to match her favorite dress, the one she’d worn on that fateful Christmas Eve. It certainly did feel perfect, he’d have to thank his granddaughter again later. 

And there she was at the front desk, tucking a dark curl behind her ear as she sorted through the mail. He’d stared down the enemy in the heat of battle many times in his military career, commanded thousands of men, but nothing had ever made him feel as intimidated as he did now, watching her pull her sweater around her before going back to the mail. He was expecting a yes (or all the hints she had been dropping had been for nothing), but how did a man sum up all the feelings he had for a woman who had seen him through the greatest triumphs and sorrows of his life?

“Well it’s about time.”

Those words, warm and mirthful, make him wonder if she could see through his pocket as he finally stepped though the front door. He wouldn’t put it past Emma to acquire x-ray vision, like one of those science fiction films he and Susan had gone to see on a slow Saturday. Her tone puts him at ease, and he sinks his hand into his pocket as he approaches the desk, feeling more confident in his decision than ever. 

“Emma, you have no idea how right you are.”


End file.
